Tag Archives: Dragon

A Friend for Dragon

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img_3067Book: A Friend for Dragon by Dav Pilkey

As a kick off to the third year of Books On My Cat, I present to you A Friend for Dragon by Dav Pilkey. This is the first book in the Dragon series of book, which I have written about several times before. Dragon is one of my favorite children’s characters. He is always getting into some sort of misadventure—in this case, Dragon falls for a prank and mistakenly assumes that an apple that has fallen on his head is actually looking to become his friend. Despite the misunderstanding, Dragon finds the apple to be a delightful friend, who is a good listener, has common interests, and shares with his friends.

I admit that this is not my favorite addition to the Dragon collection, but I think it sets a nice tone to the series. We get a good glimpse of his personality, which is then built upon in the later books. Dragon is a little naïve, but is also willing to make the most of any situation with his positive attitude. If everyone else is too busy, why not spend your time hanging out with an apple? Of course, apples do not last forever (especially when you are tricked into thinking you have a special speaking apple, and the culprit of the trick is no longer around to fake an appley voice). Although Dragon is quite distraught at the loss of his friend, he receives a pleasant surprise the summer after laying his friend to rest in the backyard.

Of course, as you may have noticed in the photo, today is also the debut of a friend of Boris: introducing Minka, a sassy little girl that joined our family at the end of December. She was found near where my dad works as a kitten in July; she was alone despite seeming too young to have left her mother. My dad began to care for her, and she moved into the office building. After living there for a few months, and with the weather starting to turn cold, he decided that it was time for her to have a more proper home and asked if Boris needed a friend. I was reluctant, as Boris has always struck me as a lone cat personality, but we decided to give it a try. The two are still getting used to having another cat around, but are starting to warm up to each other a bit. While Boris is still my number one guy, you will start to see a bit more of Minka around here!

Book: A Friend for Dragon by Dav Pilkey

Dragon’s Merry Christmas

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img_8672Book: Dragon’s Merry Christmas by Dav Pilkey

While I have written about Dragon before, I could not let the holiday season pass without a mention of my favorite Christmas book: Dragon’s Merry Christmas. (And it’s a day early!) Dragon is up to his normal mis-adventurous antics, but with a bit of a heart-warming Christmas twist.

Dragon finds the perfect Christmas tree, decorates his house, and goes out shopping for all the things that he wants for Christmas. All, of course, with that little extra Dragon twist of silliness: it would be a shame to cut down the perfect tree, and we can all guess how things might turn out when you make Christmas decorations out of chocolate! The final story really pulls it all together as a Christmas tale, where Dragon learns a lesson about the spirit of giving.

As usual, I love the extras that Pilkey adds to the story with the illustrations. Each section of the book adds something into the illustrations, that make appearances throughout the rest of the story: the lengthy extension cord to light up Dragon’s perfect tree in the forest, the devastated chocolate candy wreath. In true Dragon fashion, he improvises when he runs out of room to write out “Christmas” in lights on the front of his house.

Boris’s thoughts: “Aww, warm fuzzies. I’m warm and fuzzy too! 4 paws. Oh, and Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!”

Dragon’s Fat Cat

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img_6116Book: Dragon’s Fat Cat by Dav Pilkey

Dav Pilkey has become quite popular with several of his characters (Captain Underpants, Dog Man, etc.), but I don’t think there will ever be one that I love quite as much as Dragon.

This is one of five books chronicling the (mis)adventures of Dragon. Whether he is learning how to take care of a new pet, celebrating a holiday, or just trying to get by in his daily life, Dragon has a way of getting things a bit mixed up. He is a little too easily spooked for Halloween, buys too much food at the grocery store to fit into his car, and is really not sure what can be done about the smelly yellow puddle problem that comes along with having a pet. However, he always knows where to turn to get a little help with his problems, and things end up working out for him in the end. He is a fun, silly character that has a few laughs for both kids and the adults that are reading with them.

Of course, I may be biased because we are both obviously cat people.

These are great for early readers–they have the feel of a chapter book, but the fun of a picture book. Each book is also broken up into shorter stories, but text is lower level and there are tons of great illustrations. I love the little “extras” that get added in to the story through the pictures.

As is my habit, I realize that I have again reviewed a whole series rather than an individual book. However, I’m going to stand by this as fair. As children’s books, these all go together fairly seamlessly. I certainly would have a hard time recommending one over the others. While I could probably narrow down a favorite story in each book, differentiating from there would be difficult. The four books that I have read each have a specific focus (Dragon’s Fat Cat, Dragon Gets By, Dragon’s Halloween, and Dragon’s Christmas), and each of the four books that I have read fit so well with their unique subject.

Boris’s Thoughts: “Are you trying to imply something? I’m not fat, I’m big boned! I’ll give a little credit though, since I guess that one cat does look a bit like me. 2 paws.”